Pacific -- Published Dec. 25, 2007

Pacific basketball coach Bob Thomason used a four-letter word to describe his team following Saturday's 75-58 loss to Fresno State.

Jason Anderson

Pacific basketball coach Bob Thomason used a four-letter word to describe his team following Saturday's 75-58 loss to Fresno State.

Soft.

"I thought we were soft," Thomason said. "I thought we were soft defensively. I thought the whole first half we were just letting them do what they wanted to do, and we were kind of a half-step slow."

Thomason said the Tigers (8-4) will return to practice Thursday to start preparing for their Big West Conference opener against UC Riverside on Jan. 2 at Spanos Center. Thomason will be looking for a more inspired effort than he saw Saturday.

"We have to change what happened," Thomason said. "Every game is a real serious situation. Playing every game at our top level is going to be a great challenge for us, but we have to be at that level to win games."

The Tigers were ranked 25th in the nation in field goal percentage (49.7) going into the Fresno State game.

They managed to shoot a respectable 44.7 percent against the Bulldogs, no thanks to the backcourt. Guards Steffan Johnson, Chad Troyer, Mike Kirby, C.J. Morgan and James Doran combined to make 8 of 27 field-goal attempts and 2 of 14 from 3-point range.

"We've been shooting the ball pretty well this year, so it's always a surprise when you don't shoot well," Thomason said. "I just thought we were a little itchy and didn't have good rhythm on our shots all the time.

"When we did have some wide-open shots, we didn't seem to make them."

Pacific's "Big Monday" game against Cal Poly on Jan. 28, originally scheduled for 9 p.m., has been moved up to 8 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN.

The Big West Conference fell from No. 14 to No. 17 in the RealTimeRPI.com Ratings Percentage Index in a span of 24 hours. The freefall started with UC Davis' 81-57 loss to Jackson State on Friday and ended with a splat Saturday when the conference went a combined 0-7.

The Pacific women's basketball team went into its holiday break on a high note after beating Eastern Washington 82-74 to snap a six-game losing streak Friday at Spanos Center.

"It makes our Christmas a lot better to be coming off a win, and it gives us confidence for the next couple games," senior guard Kelsey Lavender said.

The Tigers will play Portland on Friday and Idaho on Sunday before opening Big West play against UC Riverside on Jan. 2.